商务邮件写作：电邮能用叹号吗

　　How do you convey tone in email without seeming childish or girlish? Can you ever use exclamations in emails?

　　如何在邮件里传达语气的同时又不显得幼稚或娘娘腔呢?邮件里能用惊叹号吗?

　　As we all know, tone is hard to convey properly via email. However, whenever I am inclined to use an ! to convey a positive tone, I get the sense that it actually reads as childish or immature. I also never seem to notice men using !’s in emails, either…. I’d love to hear yours and others thoughts on this!

　　我们都知道，通过邮件是很难传达语气的。然而，每当我试图利用一个惊叹号来传达积极的语气时，我却发现这读起来让我显得很幼稚。我也从未见过有男人在邮件里使用惊叹号……我很希望听到你们和其他人对此的想法!

　　A lot has been written about overuse of exclamations in emails — with some people even suggesting that one exclamation mark per email is a good rule to follow. There’s even an app to help you check the tone of your email! My best general advice is that abbreviations, multiple punctuation marks (!!!), and overly casual phrases (“amazeballs!”) have no place in professional emails. Beyond that, I think a lot of this depends on why you want to use a positive tone. For example:

　　很多读者都写到了在邮件里过度使用惊叹号的问题——有些人甚至觉得每条邮件里都加一个惊叹号是个很好的习惯。甚至还有人开发了能帮你检验你邮件中的语气的app!但我最好的一般性建议是，缩写语、多个重复的标点符号(!!!)以及过于随便的词句(“酷毙了!”)都不应该出现在商务邮件里。除此之外，我就你为什么要使用积极的语气做了些思考：

　　• If you’re telling a subordinate he or she did a good job: They don’t care if you use exclamation marks; they’re just happy to get the praise. I think something like, “Outstanding!” is professional and encouraging without seeming juvenile.

　　• 如果你想要告诉一位下属他/她干得不错：他们根本不在乎你有没有用惊叹号;他们总是很高兴得到表扬的。我觉得就像“真不错!”这样的语句就很职业而且很能激励人，还不会显得太幼稚。

　　• If you’re trying to sugarcoat a bad situation for a superior: Exclamation marks aren’t going to help you here — in fact, they’ll probably hurt you. You don’t want to be overly grave (“I am so sorry this happened!!!”), or overly breezy (“…but on the plus side no one lost a limb!!!”)… it’s a tough tone to strike in email. Which, honestly, is why I recommend picking up the phone or dropping by your boss’s office. Not only do you not have to worry about tone, but you can better gauge your boss’s reaction, and — bonus! — there’s no paper trail that might get forwarded, misconstrued, filed away, etc.

　　• 如果你想在你的主管面前粉饰一个糟糕的情况：惊叹号对你不会有帮助的——事实上，它们可能还会有坏处。你一定不想显得太过郑重(“对发生这样的事我感到非常抱歉!!!”)或是太过轻松随意(“……不过值得庆幸的是没人受到了什么损失!!!”)……这种语气在邮件里会显得特别强硬。实话实说，这是为什么我建议你打电话或者直接到老板办公室去说。那样你不但不用担心你的语气，还能更好地观察你老板的反应，另外，这样也不会留下会被转发、误解、存档的书面记录。

　　I guess that’s my best tip — if you’re worried about the tone being misunderstood, it’s best to have the conversation orally . Otherwise, trust yourself and the English language — word choice goes a long way towards, you know, communicating. For example, writing “Great news, team: we are done with the doc review.” doesn’t need any exclamation marks to get the point across.

　　我想这是我最好的建议——如果你担心你的语气会被误解，最好就做口头交流。或者，就相信你自己和英语这门语言——你知道，选词对于交流来说关系重大。比如说，如果你写“同志们，大好消息：我们的文档审查做好了。”这句话不需要任何的惊叹号，也能够正确传达意思。

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